


Wonderland

by stilljunhui (acyria)



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band), UNB (Band)
Genre: Alice in Wonderland References, Alternate Universe - Alice in Wonderland Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fantasy, Fluff, M/M, Romance, stan a.c.e !!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 05:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16612604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acyria/pseuds/stilljunhui
Summary: Kang Yuchan has gotten himself in his fair share of trouble throughout his life, but this has got to be the wildest of them all. Everything was like it came straight out of a novel; large castles, chivalrous knights, a war that divided the nation, with Yuchan at the center of it all, for reasons he's not sure he wants to find out. Everything would have been fine, honestly, if it weren't for those promises he had to make.[ Slow Updates / On-Hold ]





	Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

> This work is primarily an entry for a contest hosted on Asianfanfics. You can find more details about the story and the contest [here](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1374067/).  
>   
> In general, I've been in love with A.C.E recently and decided I needed more fics under the Chan/Jun tag. Basics of the fic is that it's heavy on the Alice in Wonderland themes (but really, more on the otome game Ikemen Revolution if any of you are familiar) and that it'll feature the A.C.E and even UNB boys here and there. Kang Yuchan is my sunshine baby boy and I can't wait to write a story with him!!! Meanwhile, Junhee's the biggest bias list wrecker out there, so yeah. I'm also definitely changing the title eventually.  
>   
> That said, I'm going to enjoy writing this so I hope you enjoy reading it.  
>   
>  ~~ah yes another chaptered fic that will take me months to update lmao but i'll finish this. i have to, before february, so there's that!~~

Falling down a hole wasn’t in Kang Yuchan’s plans that Saturday, but that was what he found himself doing nonetheless.

The day started out normal enough. He was a bright eyed, Jeju boy just walking around Seoul with a look of wonder that could rival that of a kindergartener being given a shiny new toy. Yuchan had only been around for a few days—his father’s transfer to the new city only recently finalized—so everything was still interesting to him. All the tall buildings, the multitude of cars, the amount of people bustling about; it made his curious mind happy.

So when he came across a tall boy with shockingly white hair, Yuchan couldn’t help but stare, and wanted to keep staring. He had tried to be subtle about it, at first, spotting the boy walking alongside the city park with hurried steps. In retrospect, that was probably his first mistake. Who would just follow a complete stranger around, right? However, in his defense, Yuchan was about to turn the other way and continue exploring the city, momentary curiousity gone, when the other dropped something.

What kind of person would he be if he didn’t help?

“Excuse me,” Yuchan called out after he picked up the item—a pocket watch, huh, those things still exist?—but the white haired boy appeared to be in more of a hurry than he thought. He picked up his pace too and spoke louder, “hey, you dropped something!”

If anything, the boy still didn’t hear him and seemed to walk even faster, fast enough that Yuchan could have sworn that all it took was a second for the other to suddenly disappear in place. That would have been weird. One moment the boy was standing next to a large tree by the corner of the park, then the next moment he was gone. Yuchan may have been a country boy from Jeju, but he was pretty sure that Seoul couldn’t have been _that_ different that people could just disappear into thin air.

He walked over to the spot he last saw the white haired boy and froze in place. Okay, _maybe_ there was a big difference between Jeju and Seoul after all. Next to the large tree was a very obvious hole in the ground, except it wasn’t pitch black or lined with soil like Yuchan expected a hole in the ground would look like. Instead, it looked almost like it was a mirror of sorts, showing the same large tree beside it along with a bright, blue sky littered with clouds, something so similar to his surroundings yet also somehow different.

Now, Yuchan wasn’t exactly a naive boy. 

Whatever the hole was, it clearly wasn’t supposed to be there. Either that, or he wasn’t supposed to have spotted it. He clutched the pocket watch in his hand and debated over what he should do. The thing looked fairly antique, with gold plating that had images of flowers carved into it. It still worked, though, although the time shown wasn’t the current time in Seoul, South Korea, even with the seconds hand ticking away. If anything, it looked like something too precious to lose.

The pocket watch was of no use to him, either, so it made no sense to keep it for himself. He had decided to just drop the watch into the hole and hope for the best, but the moment his hand hovered over the hole just a little closer than he had been seconds ago, Yuchan was suddenly falling. It was more like he was sucked into the hole, really, a great sudden force that he couldn’t fight as he felt his body launch into the hole. 

His last thought as he fell was how his family would react to him being missing.

Thoughts like that were soon replaced with thoughts about the _way_ he was falling. It wasn’t the same fast paced, lurching feeling like riding a rollercoaster would give, where he could feel the pressure even inside of him. No, it felt a lot more like floating, if Yuchan could describe it as that since he hasn’t really experienced that before. His surroundings passed him in a blur of bright blue, but he didn’t feel the same sensation happening to his own body.

When he looked up, he could see the hole which he fell through getting smaller and smaller.

Soon, Yuchan fell on grassy ground with a soft thud.

“Maybe this is a just a dream,” he said to himself as he stood, taking in his surroundings. That was the most logical thing he could think of since there was no way what he was seeing was real. He seemed to have landed in a garden of sorts, even if he couldn’t tell what the flowers around him were. For a split second, Yuchan could have sworn some of them had _faces_ and that one _winked_ at him, but when he blinked, the faces disappeared.

Not just that, but the garden was on top of a pretty high building, judging by the way Yuchan could see the makings of a small town below him as he explored the area. Everything looked less modern than the buildings in Seoul and even the ones back home in Jeju, even almost a little Western in design. Tiled roofs and brick walls could be spotted even from where he was standing, with each house giving a soft yellow glow underneath the moonlight.

Right. That was another thing. 

Yuchan was pretty sure it was just nearing noon by the time he fell, but it was night time wherever it was he ended up in. The time he noticed on the pocket watch matched that of the clock tower he could see from where he stood, still observing his surroundings. It was precisely 11:30PM, with the stars twinkling above him and the full moon shining extra bright, almost like it was nearer here compared to back in Korea.

Assuming he was no longer in Korea, of course, which he could bet on at that moment.

“Who’s there?” 

A deep voice cut through the silence, for which Yuchan was actually grateful for, until he actually saw who spoke. The other boy was clad in what could only be described as a soldier’s attire, bright gold and red, with a very long sword that was being pointed at Yuchan right then and there. His eyes were sharp and calculating as he spoke again.

“You don’t look familiar. Tell me, which side are you on?” The raven haired boy flashed a wicked grin, stepping forward with his sword raised higher. “Your answer determines your fate.”

Before Yuchan could reply—not that he could even if he tried because that sword looked _too real_ for comfort—somebody else appeared, clad in the same attire. This one had slightly silver hair and a smile on his face that would have been comforting, except it was a little too wide to be polite and friendly, so Yuchan ruled calling this one a friend out of the way. He was a stranger in a foreign land; maybe he wouldn’t ever get to call anybody there a friend.

“Calm down, Hojung,” the other said, smile still in place. 

Surprisingly, the boy named Hojung nodded as if being told to calm down was an order. He lowered his sword, but still kept it unsheathed next to him. He turned to the silver haired boy and bowed, before gesturing towards Yuchan like the brunette wasn’t right there with them, hearing his every word.

“What should we do with this one then, Lord Euijin? Commoners should have no place in the gardens at this time,” Hojung said dutifully. 

“I’m sure he has a reason for being here,” Euijin replied, turning to Yuchan. His smile grew less and less comforting the more Yuchan saw it, but the brunette decided not to mention that. “Well?”

Taking it as his cue to finally explain himself, Yuchan decided it would be best to show them the pocket watch, “I’m here because—“

“Oh, there you are! I was wondering what took you so long,” the white haired boy from earlier appeared, grinning at Yuchan like they were old friends while the brunette was thrown into confusion once more. He would have asked, but the other had a look in his eyes that said _don’t speak, play along_. It worked only to confuse Yuchan further. “Come on now, we should head back.”

“Daewon,” Euijin said, tone polite. “What brings the record keeper here at this hour? And who is this?”

“A visiting friend,” Daewon said with the same easy grin from earlier. “I lost my pocket watch up here earlier today while I was doing my rounds and he offered to help retrieve it. My bad, I should have sent somebody else who knew his way around.”

He gave Yuchan a quick glance, “we should get going now.”

“Right,” Yuchan found himself agreeing. This boy was the reason he was even in this whole mess to begin with. Even if he wasn’t sure if he could trust Daewon just yet, at least the other didn’t carry a sword around with him that he shoved into people’s faces. He liked him better than Hojung already. Maybe even better than Euijin, who still looked fairly suspicious of everything, but soon waved them away.

Daewon took him down elaborate flights of stairs with no words spoken between them. Even if Yuchan had about a dozen questions he wanted to ask, he could also tell that it wasn’t the right moment yet. It wasn’t until Daewon had stopped a carriage—an actual carriage, drawn by horses and driven by a man in uniform—and ushered him in did Yuchan allow himself to fully process what just happened. Across him, the white haired boy seemed to be giving him the same, thoughtful look.

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice you followed me through the hole earlier,” he eventually said. “It was very kind of you to go all this way to return something I clumsily dropped, so thank you.”

“Uhm,” Yuchan began, before realizing that was the least eloquent reply he could give, and tried again. “It’s no problem. Can I ask how I could get back from here? Wherever this is.”

Daewon pursed his lips, “that’s kind of the problem we have to face, I’m afraid.”

“Problem? I don’t like the sound of that.”

“I’ll explain everything when we arrive. I’ll be taking you to my cottage for now, if that’s alright.”

Did he even have a choice? Yuchan figured the answer to that was a no. Still, he felt a little better since technically, Daewon was a familiar face. Plus, this way he wasn’t left alone to fend for himself since he definitely didn’t want another run in with anybody dressed like Hojung and Euijin were earlier. They didn’t look at all hesitant to threaten Yuchan further. He didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if Daewon hadn’t showed up.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself,” the white haired boy said after a moment’s pause. “My name is Park Daewon. As you heard earlier, I am Wonderland’s record keeper. I am affiliated with neither the Black or the Red Army, but I do keep track of everything that goes on around here so it was a matter of time that I picked up wind about you. The two you encountered earlier are from the Red Army. All I can say is I highly suggest avoiding them.”

“Yeah, I got that message loud and clear earlier, in the form of a sword,” Yuchan joked, which earned a small smile from the other boy. “My name is Kang Yuchan. Did you just call this place _Wonderland_?”

Daewon nodded, “yeah, and we haven’t had anybody show up from the Other Side in a very long time. I’m glad Euijin didn’t notice that earlier.”

“The Other Side,” Yuchan replied slowly. “So, where I’m from? Didn’t you come from there, too?”

“Just a little business trip, which are few and rare, but this is my real world. It’s my fault I didn’t close the hole after I went through,” the other said apologetically. 

“Is it a bad thing that I’m here?”

“We’re here,” Daewon announced instead of answering as the carriage stopped. “Let’s go inside first, shall we?”

Again, an offer Yuchan couldn’t exactly reject even if he wanted to. The two alighted from the carriage in front of a quaint looking cottage, exactly like the ones Yuchan saw from up in the garden. There were various plants surrounding the front of the building; this time, he was sure that the flowers _definitely_ had faces, and that one of them looked positively thrilled at the sight of him. Was that supposed to make him happy, too?

“Hansol, I’m back with company!”

“Company? The last time you brought back _company_ it was that group of singing frogs, which I do _not_ need a repeat of.”

A tall, blonde man emerged from the room next door, pausing in his step when he noticed that there were—thankfully—no singing frogs in sight. He looked more surprised to see Yuchan, though, as he stopped in the middle of stirring his tea and stared at the brunette for longer than necessary, before giving Daewon a very pointed look.

“Okay, no frogs, but who’s this?”

“This is Yuchan. He’s from the Other Side,” Daewon replied sheepishly, already expecting Hansol’s look of surprise.

“If the Red Army spots him—“

“They did, sort of, until I got him out of there. They don’t know anything, but Euijin looked kind of suspicious,” the white haired boy explain, tone growing more serious as he spoke. “If he tells Gwangsuk, they might snoop around.”

Still standing there with no idea what to do, Yuchan looked back and forth between the two with a growing feeling of dread. This whole time, Daewon had made it quite clear that the Red Army were not people to mess with. Along with that, apparently coming from the Other Side was also a big deal, otherwise he wouldn’t be kept so hush hush. Daewon had said he would get explanations once they reached his house though, so maybe he just had to be a little bit more patient.

“Look, he can’t stay here with us,” Hansol said, catching Yuchan’s attention. “If he’s going to be hunted by Gwangsuk’s knights eventually, he should be over at Junhee’s where it’s safer.”

“Safer? Marking him a clear enemy makes it safer?”

“Making sure he gets the protection he _needs_ makes it safer,” the taller boy said, in a no  further questions asked tone that managed to effectively shut Daewon up.

“Can I get that explanation now?” Yuchan blurted out with a nervous chuckle. “Can’t I just go back home? Pop through another portal or something?”

The other two people in the room did a very bad job at hiding their discomfort at the question, which didn’t look like a good sign for the brunette. From what he picked up, it made sense that the best course of action for Yuchan was to just leave the place. As he thought about it further though, he remembered Daewon saying his own trips to the Other Side were rare and few. Maybe getting back wouldn’t be that easy after all.

“How long do I have to stay here?” He tried asking instead; hitting the nail on the head, too, as Hansol gave him what must have been an approving nod.

The blonde’s face looked grim as he answered, “you need to wait for a blue moon to appear. Luckily, the next one should be in three months time. A lot can happen in three months, though, so it’s best to be careful.”

“Three months?” Yuchan asked, voice squeaking a little in surprise. That was way longer than he anticipated. How would things be back home? He could imagine his mother frantically looking for him and felt his chest ache a little. As if reading his thoughts—or maybe the way it could be read on his face—Daewon patted his back.

“Time works different here though. Three months shouldn’t be that long back on the Other Side, so don’t worry so much,” the other said, which eased Yuchan’s worries a little, but it didn’t change the fact that he would be stuck in a foreign world for much longer than he would like. Especially with the whole issue about how he was going to be hunted, which he eventually voiced out as another question. This one was met with even more hesitation than the first few.

“It’s late,” Hansol said, his tone not welcoming any objections again, which meant that explanation was going to wait again. “We’ll tell you more tomorrow when we head to the Black Army. I’m sure they can explain things better than us, too.”

Yuchan glanced at Daewon, as if for reassurance, since the latter was the first one he’d consider a friend in Wonderland. He got a calm enough smile in response, so maybe things weren’t as urgent as Hansol made it seem. Even if it were, Yuchan decided that he was going to be more positive about things. No use worrying about things he doesn’t even know about yet, right? He gave the taller boy a nod and soon obediently followed Daewon to a guest room.

He dreamt of flowers that talked and white rabbits.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so the max words per chapter stated in the contest was 3k, which I figured I'd never have a problem with since most of my chapters are usually a little over 2k, but here I am with 2.9k words. It didn't feel right to cut this chapter anywhere, since it's essentially an introduction, but it had to end eventually. Junhee shows up in the next chapter along with the rest of the A.C.E boys incase you were wondering!
> 
> (The chapter count says 15 since it's the max number of the chapters the contest allows. I'll change it if I feel like I'll be going lower.)


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